Cedarcrest Hospital

“The Medalist at Cedarcrest” — croquet on the grounds

Two unnamed women appear in a croquet scene beside a shingled campus building. The original caption identifies Cedarcrest.

Source: https://archive.org/details/report19241926connuoft/page/n78/mode/1up
Date: Published 1926; photograph undated
Original printed caption retained. The report does not identify these women or establish whether they were patients or staff.

“A Critical Moment at Cedarcrest” — a table under the trees

A group of unnamed men gathers around a table outdoors, apparently playing cards, in a photograph captioned Cedarcrest.

Source: https://archive.org/details/report19241926connuoft/page/n78/mode/1up
Date: Published 1926; photograph undated
Original printed caption retained. Individual names, roles and exposure date are unknown; no patient identities inferred.

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16  NARRATIVE
toria,  was  an  enumeration  of  the  cases  of  tuberculosis  that
were  then  in  the  almshouses  and  county  homes  of  the  state.
It  was  urged  that  the  counties  assisted  by  the  state  should
provide  "homes"  in  which  these  unfortunate  victims  of
tuberculosis  could  be  quarantined.  The  county  authorities,
however,  were  lukewarm  or  hostile  to  the  plan.  The  State
was  obliged  to  shoulder  the  entire  expense  of  the  establish-
ment of  the  proposed  institutions.  In  the  first  statutes,  the
institutions  were  still  referred  to  as  "county  homes,"  and
the  expectation  still  appeared  that  there  would  be  a  tubercu-
losis "home"  in  every  county  in  the  state.
Experience  soon  demonstrated  that  the  county  idea  was
unwise.  The  General  Assembly  of  1913  changed  the  names
of  the  institutions  to  "state  sanatoria."  This  helped  a  great
deal,  Connecticut's  State  Sanatoria  soon  faced  the  critical
public  and  challenged  comparison  with  the  best  of  state
sanatoria  anywhere.
Then  came  years  of  enlargement  and  development.  The
fame  of  the  State  Sanatoria  of  Connecticut  spread.  The
national  leaders  of  the  anti-tuberculosis  movement  began
to  realize  that  at  the  Connecticut  Sanatoria  many  of  the
administrative  and  scientific  problems  of  tuberculosis  con-
trol were  being  solved  in  new  and  admirable  ways.  The
great  national  and  international  publications  devoted  to
tuberculosis  began  to  contain  reports  of  the  papers  read
at  the  monthly  conferences  of  the  medical  officers  of  the
Connecticut  State  Sanatoria.  It  became  apparent  that  not
only  were  Connecticut's  sanatoria  in  the  front  rank  of  state
sanatoria,  but  that,  with  the  single  exception  of  their
cheaper  wooden  buildings  they  were  comparable  with  the
most  richly  endowed  private  sanatoria,  or  the  most  famous
national  sanatoria.  It  seemed  desirable  for  the  psycho-
logical reasons  given  in  our  report  to  the  last  General
Assembly,  to  individualize  the  various  sanatoria  with  dis-
tinctive names.  Therefore,  the  sanatorium  at  Hartford  is
now,  Cedarcrest.
The  approach  to  this  institution  is  by  way  of  a  well  paved
driveway  from  the  State  road  a  couple  of  miles  south  of
Hartford.  The  superintendent  of  Cedarcrest  is  Dr.  William
M.  Stockwell  who  has  been  in  the  service  of  the  State  as
sanatorium  superintendent  since  1910.  He  is  a  native  of
Connecticut  and  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl-
vania. His  two  capable  assistants  are  Dr.  Neil  K.  Forhan,
formerly  of  the  staff  of  the  National  Government's  tubercu-
losis sanatorium  at  Allingtown  and  Dr.  Max  Teplitz,  for-

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NARRATIVE  17
merly  resident  physician  at  state  sanatoria  in  Pennsylvania.
The  present  head-nurse  is  Miss  Anna  M.  Walsh,  w^ho  has
held  similar  positions  at  the  famous  White  Haven  sana-
torium in  Pennsylvania  and  at  other  institutions.  Under
Miss  Walsh,  are  sixteen  ward  nurses  and  eight  orderlies.
Andrew  Osborn,  the  Steward,  has  served  the  State
efficiently  for  many  years.
The  kitchen  force  consists  of  one  chef,  two  assistant  chefs
and  a  pastry  cook,  and  about  ten  waiters.  In  order  to  super-
vise and  care  for  the  buildings  and  grounds  an  engineer,  a
carpenter,  a  farmer,  a  night  watchman  and  laborers  are
employed.  This  list  does  not  include  the  part-day  services
rendered  by  certain  cured  patients  as  laboratory  technicians
and  male  and  female  nurses.
The  number  and  character  of  the  subordinate  help  at  all
the  sanatoria  is  approximately  the  same;  it  will  not  be
necessary  to  enumerate  them  again.
At  Cedarcrest,  is  in  operation  the  big  laundry  that  cares
for  three  sanatoria  west  of  the  Connecticut  river.  Ever
since  its  establishment  five  years  ago,  the  laundry  has  been
managed  for  the  state  by  Mr.  Ernest  Little.  On  the  laundry
payroll,  are  always  a  dozen  or  more  employees.
Our  next  objective  will  be —
LAUREL  HEIGHTS
This  institution  which  at  its  birth  bore  the  joyous  name
of  "The  Fairfield  County  Home  for  the  Care  and  Treatment
of  Persons  Suffering  From  Tuberculosis,"  and  later  was
known  as  The  Shelton  State  Sanatorium,  now  for  the  last
few  years  is  called  Laurel  Heights.  It  is  delightfully  located
on  the  hill  to  the  west  of  the  River  Road  between  Shelton
and  Stratford.  It  houses  one  hundred  and  sixty  patients.
Dr.  Edward  J.  Lynch,  the  superintendent,  is  a  native  of
Connecticut  and  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl-
vania. He  has  been  in  the  service  of  the  State  Tubercu-
losis Commission  about  15  years.  He  has  been  superintend-
ent at  Laurel  Heights  for  eight  years.  Associated  with
him,  as  assistant,  is  Dr.  George  Bunnell,  a  graduate  of  Yale
and  Columbia,  and  of  the  United  States  Army  medical
service.  The  head  nurse  is  Miss  Katherine  Kessak,  for-
merly of  Phipps  Institute,  Philadelphia,  and  of  Uncas-on-
Thames.  The  housekeeper  and  dietitian  is  Mrs.  George
Bunnell,  for  many  years  one  of  the  most  valuable  nurses  at
the  institution.     The  secretary  is  Ralph  B.  Rogers.     The

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Narrative  '.)
retired  from  further  hospital  duty  and  that  we  must  ask  the
General  Assembly  to  let  us  replace  it  with  a  modern  fire-
proof building  of  brick  or  stone.  The  justice  and  timeliness
of  our  decision  will  be  apparent  to  the  members  of  the
General  Assembly  when  they  visit  Undercliff  this  winter,
and  see  for  themselves  the  terrible  fire  hazard  to  which  the
children  in  the  present  infirmary  building  are  now  exposed.
Cedarcrest
Cedarcrest,  the  third  in  point  of  size  of  the  State  Tuber-
culosis Sanatoria,  is  situated  in  the  town  of  Newington,
but  only  a  mile  from  the  Hartford  city  line.  It  has  accom-
modations for  192  patients  and  usually  a  waiting  list  for
the  men's  infirmary.  The  General  Assembly  at  its  last
session  appropriated  thirty-nine  thousand  dollars  for  the
installing  of  a  central  heating  plant  at  Cedarcrest.  The
carrying  out  of  this  great  improvement  as  projected,  gave
us  an  opportunity  to  devise  an  attractive  rearrangement  of
the  roads,  and  to  eliminate  many  of  the  unsightly  poles
and  wires  that  hitherto  had  crossed  and  recrossed  the
grounds.  By  agreement  with  the  electric  light  and  tele-
graph companies  we  have,  wherever  possible,  buried  these
wires  in  the  brick  conduits  for  carrying  the  steam  from
the  central  heating  plant  to  the  various  buildings  of  the
institution.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  all  the  buildings  at
Cedarcrest  are  of  rather  cheap  wooden  construction,  and
of  a  type  that  we  have  not  used  in  recent  years,  the
splendid  site  of  the  institution  lends  itself  readily  to  every
beautifying  effort,  and  we  hope  soon  to  see  Cedarcrest
vying  in  attractiveness  with  the  best  of  the  State's  sana-
toria. As  a  means  to  this  end,  and  also  to  improve  the
accommodations  for  the  very  sick  patients  as  this  institu-
tion, and  to  abolish  the  waiting  list,  and  to  better  the
morale  of  the  place,  we  propose  to  present  a  request  for
an  appropriation  for  a  new  fireproof  structure  at  Cedarcrest,
that  will  be  a  combination  infirmary  and  administration
building.
During  the  past  two  years,  we  have  moved  the  old
summer  cottage  from  the  recently  purchased  Balf  farm  to
the  original  sanatorium  grounds,  and  made  it  over  into  a
commodious  and  comfortable  residence  for  one  of  the  resi-
dent physicians.
The  central  laundry  located  on  the  grounds  at  Cedar-
crest, continues  to  function  satisfactorily.  It  has  been
found  necessary,  however,  to  replace  some  of  the  wornout
machinery.    Hitherto  we  have  kept  the  horses  of  the  insti-